Books

Unfortunately, books are almost exclusively available in Japanese although a number of them might be of interest even if you do not read Japanes as they do contain a lot of images.

Unfortunately, many of them are out of print but may be found used.

Please note that we do not sell these books and videos, we only convey information about them on this page.

ShorinjiKempo – profound study with serial pictures

(少林寺拳法 連続写真で究める – ShorinjiKempo rezoku shashin de kiwameru)

A series of three books, containing picture series, originally photographed and published in the Japanese monthly magazine ‘ShorinjiKempo’. The names of all techniques are also written in “romaji” (our alphabet) and it shows each technique from three different angles with 12-30 pictures form each angle.

The books are published by the Japanese publishing company ‘Baseball Magazine’.

There is also a translation made by Aran Lunzer, of the Goho book and the Juho 1 book. When the book was available for purchase from hombu, you could also buy a folder with the English translation.

The book is no longer sold but it might be found used from amazon etc.

Shorinji Kempo (Photo collection)

A book with 73 beautiful colour pictures taken by the photograper Shigeto Ogura. The book also includes 18 old, previously unpublished, black and white pictures of Kaiso.

The book has no text besides from a short statement of why it was published and an intex with smaller pictures where it also says what technique is depicted in the picture. The pictures in this book are selected because they capture timing and movement, they are not taken where the kenshi are standing still but in full movement showing aspects such as timing and kuzushi.

The book is published by the Shorinji Kempo Renmei (Japanese federation). It was previously sold at hombu but is no longer available, might be found used.

The Warrior’s Path

A book of interviews with many different masters within different budo such as Karate-do, Aikido, Judo, Naginata-do and Shorinji Kempo, tastefully illustrated by the author James Sidney’s pictures.

A very good and interesting book which contains a chapter on Shorinji Kempo. It is Uchiyama-sensei, 9:th dan Daihanshi and the most senior practitioner of Shorinji Kempo at the time of its publishment (unfortunately, Uchiyama-sensei has since passed away), who is being interviewed. The pictures that illustrate the chapter on Shorinji Kempo show kenshi from Toronto branch in Canada and John McCulloch, Shibu-cho in Toronto can be seen on the cover.

Books only available to kenshi

Shorinji Kempo kamokuhyō

Kamokuhyō loosely translates to ‘curriculum’ and is rather folders than books. The Japanese original kamokuhyō is divided into three parts, shōnenbu kamokuhyō (curriculum for children), kyūkenshi kamokuhyō (curriculum for kyū graded adults) och yūdansha kamokuhyō (curriculum for dan graded). WSKO Hombu have made translations to English of the kamokuhyō and in their translation, yūdansha kamokuhyō is divided into one intermediate (up to 3rd dan) and one avanced, covering curriculum and new techniques from 4th to 6th dan.

The Swedish translation is done directly from the Japanese and is bilingual (Swedish and Japanese), it also contains some pages found in the Japanese original but that cannot be found in the English translation, made by WSKO Hombu. The Swedish edition has run out and will not be back in print until the planned revision of Shorinji Kempo’s kamokuhyō is done.

Kenshi can buy this via their branch.

Shorinji Kempo Tokuhon

This is the book that, after Shorinji Kempo’s reorganization, has replaced the Fukudoku-hon. The Shorinji Kempo Tokuhon has virtually the same contents as the earlier Fukudoku-hon, but the parts that directly deal with Kongo Zen and buddhism have been removed. These can now be found in the Kongo Zen Tokuhon.

At the moment, this book can only be found in Japanese or English. It is currently being translated to Swedish. As a kenshi, you can buy it from Hombu through your branch (Shibu-cho) and the price is 600 yen for the Japanese version and 1000 yen for the English version.

Kongo Zen Tokuhon

This book is mainly aimed at Japanese kenshi training in a dōin and it contains the parts related to Kongo Zen and buddhism that were earlier found in Fukudoku-hon but have been removed from the new Shorinji Kempo Tokuhon.

This book is also translated to English but only as a folder (no pictures and illustrations) so if you buy the English version, you should also buy the Japanese one for the pictures etc. Kenshi can buy it from Hombu via their branch and the price is 300 yen

Shōnenbu Shorinji Kempo Tokuhon

Shōnenbu Shorinji Kempo Tokuhon is a textbook for children. It contains a lot of illustrations and is written in a simple way so that even younger kenshi can understand the Shorinji Kempo philosophy. The Japanese version costs 600 yen and the English is 1000 yen.

Shorinji Kempo Kyōhan

Kyōhan can be regarded as the primary book within Shorinji Kempo as it contains explanations of all our techniques and is written by the founder of Shorinji Kempo. The first version of this book was released in 1953. Since then it has been released in multiple editions, the latest being from 2001 and is divided into two parts. The first one contains the philosophy and a number of historical pictures and the second part contains theory about training and explanations for techniques.

This book cannot be “bought” but is given to you if you donate at least 10 000 yen to Kongo Zen Sohonzan Shorinji, also you must be at least nidan (2nd dan) to get it. It is only available in Japanese but Hombu has been working on translating it to English, when and if it will be printed is not currently known

Fukudokuhon

Fukudokuhon has now been replaced by Shorinji Kempo Tokuhon and Kongo Zen Tokuhon. It has been translated into multiple languages and many countries probably still use the Fukudokuhon in their own language instead of the new Shorinji Kempo Tokuhon. There is a Swedish version but unfortunately it is sold out although there might be smaller quantities in stock at some branches.